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on Efficiency and Productivity |
| By: | Markus Trunschke; Kenneth L. Judd |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a novel method to estimate production functions. Earlier papers rely on special assumptions about the functional form of production functions. Our approach efficiently estimates all parameters of any production functions with Hicks-neutral productivity without additional exogenous variables or sources of variation in flexible input demand. We provide Monte Carlo Simulation evidence of our method’s performance and test our approach on empirical data from Chilean and Colombian manufacturing industries. |
| JEL: | C02 D24 L0 |
| Date: | 2024–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33205 |
| By: | Alexander Bick |
| Abstract: | The number of recent immigrants to the U.S. varies greatly among data sources. What might an undercount of this population mean for U.S. productivity growth? |
| Keywords: | immigration; productivity growth |
| Date: | 2025–01–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:l00001:99415 |
| By: | Kazuki Tomioka; Thomas T. Yang; Xibin Zhang |
| Abstract: | Stochastic frontier models have attracted significant interest over the years due to their unique feature of including a distinct inefficiency term alongside the usual error term. To effectively separate these two components, strong distributional assumptions are often necessary. To overcome this limitation, numerous studies have sought to relax or generalize these models for more robust estimation. In line with these efforts, we introduce a latent group structure that accommodates heterogeneity across firms, addressing not only the stochastic frontiers but also the distribution of the inefficiency term. This framework accounts for the distinctive features of stochastic frontier models, and we propose a practical estimation procedure to implement it. Simulation studies demonstrate the strong performance of our proposed method, which is further illustrated through an application to study the cost efficiency of the U.S. commercial banking sector. |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2412.08831 |
| By: | Arrouna Keita (University of Orl´eans) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the Public Agricultural Expenditure Efficiency (PAEE) in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, focusing on the impact of the proportion of cash crops production on this efficiency. We first compute the Bias-corrected Technical Efficiency (BTE) Scores of 39 SSA countries from 2003 to 2017, using the Bootstrap Data Envelopment Analysis method, with per capita public agricultural expenditure as input, and food security indicators as output. Second, we assess the effect of cash crops share in harvested land (CSHL) on the PAEE using Beta regression. (i) our results show that in most SSA countries(79%), CSHL is on average less than 15%. (ii) findings indicate a significant positive effect of CSHL on the PAEE, suggesting that a higher proportion of cash crops in agricultural production enhances food security. (iii) results for SSA countries where CSHL is high are in line with the aim of the commitments made by African countries in Maputo (2003) declarations to fight hunger by allocating at least 10% of their public spending to agriculture—aligning with the Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger by 2030. Our results are robust to a battery of robustness tests. |
| Keywords: | Public agricultural spending efficiency, food security, zero-hunger SDG, Sub- Saharan Africa, DEA-Bootstrap |
| JEL: | Q |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inf:wpaper:2024.17 |
| By: | Jakob (Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Bonn) |
| Abstract: | This study examines the relationship between absenteeism and firm performance using data on 1, 387 stores of a retail chain, combined with public health data, covering a 36-month period. Crucially, the relationship between absenteeism and sales is not monotonic. Instead, it exhibits an inverted U-shape. This indicates that a reduction in absenteeism does not necessarily result in improved firm performance. In fact, moderate absenteeism is associated with higher sales than perfect attendance. Moreover, if the actual level of absenteeism is below the level expected due to the regional acute spread of respiratory disease, this is associated with lower sales than if both align. A similar relationship is also observed between absenteeism and measures of service quality. Endogeneity concerns are addressed using fixed effects regression and instrumental variable estimation. In conclusion, the results demonstrate that absenteeism is not generally detrimental to firm performance. It is therefore not advisable to attempt to avoid absenteeism altogether. |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpg:wpaper:2025_02 |
| By: | Bipul Verma |
| Abstract: | This paper revisits the debate on income convergence between poor and rich countries. I challenge the view that there is little to no catch-up, and that changes in total factor productivity (TFP) drives cross-country income differences. Since 2000, income levels in poor countries have converged with rich countries at 0.8% annually, rising to 1.5% when excluding Sub-Saharan Africa. A growth accounting exercise incorporating capital income share heterogeneity shows that most convergence since 1980, and over half since 2000 outside Sub-Saharan Africa, results from convergence in physical and human capital inputs rather than TFP. |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2412.16127 |
| By: | Blessy Augustine (Assistant Professor, Madras School of Economics, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, 600025); Raja Sethu Durai S (Professor, BITS-Pilani, Dubai) |
| Abstract: | Assessing the efficiency of public expenditure and identifying the origins of inefficiency is imperative for any government to design effective policy measures. This study aims to decompose the efficiency of health and education expenditure of major Indian states as a two-stage process in which the first stage is infrastructure development and the second is service delivery. Using a two-stage relational Data Envelopment Analysis of Kao and Hwang (2008) for the year 2019-20, the empirical findings from this study suggest a significant variation in efficiency across the states in these two stages. Further, it also identifies that the governance of a state matters only in the infrastructure stage and not in the service delivery stage. The results from this study will help the states understand the stage where they have deficiencies and design their policy for improvement. |
| Keywords: | Public expenditure efficiency, Data Envelopment Analysis, two-stage relational DEA, Governance |
| JEL: | H72 C61 I1 I2 |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mad:wpaper:2025-274 |
| By: | Matthias Mertens; Benjamin Schoefer |
| Abstract: | We document and dissect a new stylized fact about firm growth: the shift from labor to intermediate inputs. This shift occurs in input quantities, cost and output shares, and output elasticities. We establish this fact using German firm-level data and replicate it in administrative firm data from 11 additional countries. We also document these patterns in micro-aggregated industry data for 20 European countries (and, with respect to industry cost shares, for the US). We rationalize this novel regularity within a parsimonious model featuring (i) an elasticity of substitution between intermediates and labor that exceeds unity, and (ii) an increasing shadow price of labor relative to intermediates, due to monopsony power over labor or labor adjustment costs. The shift from labor to intermediates accounts for one half to one third of the decline in the labor share in growing firms (the remainder is due to wage markdowns and markups) and rationalizes most of the labor share decline in growing industries. |
| JEL: | E0 J0 L0 M0 O0 |
| Date: | 2024–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33172 |
| By: | Leonardo D'Amico; Edward L. Glaeser; Joseph Gyourko; William R. Kerr; Giacomo A.M. Ponzetto |
| Abstract: | We document a Kuznets curve for construction productivity in 20th-century America. Homes built per construction worker remained stagnant between 1900 and 1940, boomed after World War II, and then plummeted after 1970. The productivity boom from 1940 to 1970 shows that nothing makes technological progress inherently impossible in construction. What stopped it? We present a model in which local land-use controls limit the size of building projects. This constraint reduces the equilibrium size of construction companies, reducing both scale economies and incentives to invest in innovation. Our model shows that, in a competitive industry, such inefficient reductions in firm size and technology investment are a distinctive consequence of restrictive project regulation, while classic regulatory barriers to entry increase firm size. The model is consistent with an extensive series of key facts about the nature of the construction sector. The post-1970 productivity decline coincides with increases in our best proxies for land-use regulation. The size of development projects is small today and has declined over time. The size of construction firms is also quite small, especially relative to other goods-producing firms, and smaller builders are less productive. Areas with stricter land use regulation have particularly small and unproductive construction establishments. Patenting activity in construction stagnated and diverged from other sectors. A back-of-the-envelope calculation indicates that, if half of the observed link between establishment size and productivity is causal, America’s residential construction firms would be approximately 60 percent more productive if their size distribution matched that of manufacturing. |
| JEL: | D24 E23 L7 R31 R52 |
| Date: | 2024–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33188 |
| By: | Ahmed El Haiba Rdait (UCD - Université Chouaib Doukkali); Driss Ennesraoui |
| Abstract: | Abstract In recent years, the quality approach has been increasingly implemented in public organizations, despite originating from the private sector, particularly in the field of industrial production where economic principles prevail. Implementing this approach in the public sector, which is subject to a philosophy of public management, is a complex task requiring contextualization and adaptation of models, tools, and methods imported from the private sector. The impact of implementing the quality approach on performance has been the subject of numerous studies in the management sciences literature. The majority of findings in this area confirm a direct correlation between quality practices and performance. This article aims firstly to provide a theoretical overview of the quality approach and performance in the context of the public sector, particularly regarding concepts, models, and determinants. Secondly, it seeks to examine the relationship between these two approaches. The results of this research highlight a conceptual model to assess the impact of quality approach components that have a positive effect on public sector performance. |
| Abstract: | Résumé : Au cours de ces dernières années, la démarche qualité s'implante de plus en plus dans les organisations publiques, alors qu'elle est issue du secteur privé, en particulier du domaine de la production industrielle où les principes économiques prévalent. La mise en place de cette démarche dans le secteur public, soumis à une philosophie de gestion publique, est une tâche complexe qui nécessite une contextualisation et une adaptation des modèles, des outils et des méthodes importés du secteur privé. L'impact de la mise en place de la démarche qualité sur la performance a fait l'objet à de nombreuses recherches dans la littérature des sciences de gestion. La majorité des résultats des travaux traitant cette thématique confirment l'existence d'une corrélation directe entre les pratiques de la qualité et la performance. Cet article vise premièrement à présenter, un éclairage théorique sur la démarche qualité et la performance dans le contexte du secteur public, notamment en ce qui concerne les concepts, les modèles, et les déterminants. Deuxièmement, il cherche à examiner la relation entre ces deux approches. Les résultats de cette recherche mettent en évidence un modèle conceptuel pour évaluer l'impact des composants de la démarche qualité qui exercent un effet positif sur la performance de secteur public. Mots clés : démarche qualité, performance, secteur public, management public JEL Classification : M10, D73 Type du papier : Recherche Théorique Abstract: In recent years, the quality approach has been increasingly implemented in public organizations, despite originating from the private sector, particularly in the field of industrial production where economic principles prevail. Implementing this approach in the public sector, which is subject to a philosophy of public management, is a complex task requiring contextualization and adaptation of models, tools, and methods imported from the private sector. The impact of implementing the quality approach on performance has been the subject of numerous studies in the management sciences literature. The majority of findings in this area confirm a direct correlation between quality practices and performance. This article aims firstly to provide a theoretical overview of the quality approach and performance in the context of the public sector, particularly regarding concepts, models, and determinants. Secondly, it seeks to examine the relationship between these two approaches. The results of this research highlight a conceptual model to assess the impact of quality approach components that have a positive effect on public sector performance. Keywords: quality approach, performance, public sector, public management. Classification JEL : M10, D73 Paper type : Theoretical Research Ahmed El Haiba RDAIT, (Doctorant chercheur) Laboratoire de Recherche en Gestion, Economie et Sciences Sociales Faculté des Sciences Juridiques, Economiques et Sociales Université Chouaib Doukkali, El Jadida Driss ENNESRAOUI, (Enseignant Chercheur) Laboratoire de Recherche en Gestion, Economie et Sciences Sociales Faculté des Sciences Juridiques, Economiques et Sociales Université Chouaib Doukkali, El Jadida |
| Keywords: | démarche qualité performance secteur public management public JEL Classification : M10 D73 Type du papier : Recherche Théorique quality approach performance public sector public management. Classification JEL: M10 D73 Paper type: Theoretical Research, démarche qualité, performance, secteur public, management public JEL Classification : M10, D73 Type du papier : Recherche Théorique quality approach, public sector, public management. Classification JEL: M10, D73 Paper type: Theoretical Research |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04809236 |
| By: | Elisabeth Nindl (European Commission - JRC); Lorenzo Napolitano (European Commission - JRC); Hugo Confraria (European Commission - JRC); Francesco Rentocchini (European Commission - JRC); Peter Fako (European Commission - JRC); James Gavigan (European Commission - JRC); Alexander Tuebke (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | The 2024 edition of “The EU Industrial Research & Development (R&D) Investment Scoreboard” continues in the 21st year to monitor and analyse industrial R&D investment trends in the context of the EU’s 3% of GDP R&D investment policy target, which is a key performance indicator of the EU’s long-term competitiveness. As emphasised in the recent ‘Draghi’ report, it is crucial for the EU to substantially increase private R&D investments in order to tackle our historic productivity gaps with respect to main global competitors. The 2024 Scoreboard’s monitors the world's top 2 000 R&D investors, responsible for over three quarters of R&D performed by the business sector globally, based on the financial information in the firms’ latest published audited accounts. Chapter 2 analyses the main global trends and benchmarks the EU’s top R&D investing companies against global competitors. Chapter 3 provides details per sector, and chapter 4 deep-dives on a subsample of the EU’s top 800 R&D investing firms. Chapter 5 analyses the R&D productivity from a long-term perspective, and combines the sample with data on Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) to delve into corporate innovation strategies. |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc140129 |